The Folksinger 2013

Vlad Hugg is the new teen sensation. He has won over young people all over England with his New Folk-style and his rebellious singer-songwriter stance. Melia's cousin Liv has been hired to write his biography, and the two women have to spend time with the kid. Melia has her own reasons: she has been ordered to watch him. His family comes from Ukraine. Could he be a spy, working for the communists? More

Vlad Hugg is the new teen sensation. He has won over young people all over England with his New Folk-style and his rebellious singer-songwriter stance. Besides that, he is good-looking and has plenty of attitude; the girls want to mother him and the boys want to be him. What could be more exciting? Melia's cousin Liv has been hired to write the young singer's biography, and the two women have to spend time with the kid. Liv actually comes from the youngster's home town, Swinton in Salford, and knew his older brother at school. Melia has her own reasons: she has been ordered to watch him, by her bosses in British Security. His family comes from Ukraine, they say. Could he be a spy, working for the communists? Outlandish as that seems, Melia starts to understand the Establishment's suspicions: the kid has a strange liking for Russian folk styles, and his mother, it seems, was born in Moscow. His father is from Salford, but was working in East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. So why did he have to flee the country so abruptly, and why isn't anybody talking about it? Also, who are Vlad Hugg's management? Why are they so reticent to be seen in public, and why won't they meet Melia? She realises there may be more going on than anyone would readily admit to, and there is another problem that simply won't go away: a close friend of Liv's was 'murdered', she says, and she wants her cousin to investigate it. Is there time for all theses issues?

Born at four o'clock in the morning, and I don't remember much about that. But after I started talking I was told I was living in Bristol, UK, in the South West of England, and close to Cornwall, where most of my ancestors come from. After some exploring to the east coast, (and writing my first novel), I moved on up to Manchester, where the wool comes from, and started making manuscripts, some on paper and some in book form. Many of them grew up and left home, which is where Smashwords comes in.